But when the retired baller tried to pull a custody crossover on his ex-wife Tawanna Iverson, she filed legal papers alleging the 11-time all-star abducted their five children.

TMZ says Allen asked to take his children (aged 3 to 16) on a mini-vacation to Charlotte, N.C., toward the end of May. But when the last permitted day came around, the kids, to their mother’s outrage, were still with dad. Tawanna says she doubts they ever went to Charlotte and believes they’re instead holed up at a Sheraton hotel in Georgia.

The divorced couple originally agreed to arrange to meet up at a neutral drop-off spot: Target. Allen, however, allegedly missed the mark and now stands accused of both parental abduction and boozing it up in front of his children.

Tawanna, who holds sole custody of the kids, now wants to get their father locked up, something she’s tried before after claiming he owed $40,000 in past-due child support.

Allen filed his own papers denying the allegations. When one parents has full custody of the kids, the other risks accusations of abduction any time a visit’s granted and a fight ensues, so it’s tough to say what’s really going on here. Custody battles get weird and complicated.

It’s only a matter of minutes, though, before the Internet alights with quips about Allen turning from ball hog to kid hog.